Tag: Women

When we think of adolescence, we tend to associate it with a period of discovery and change: growing closer to certain friends, becoming interested in different hobbies, hitting puberty, and transitioning from childhood to adulthood. In Guatemala however, the reality for many teenage girls is sadly very different. Due to lack of sexual education, sociocultural norms, and limited access to birth control, 22% of girls in Guatemala give birth before the age of 18, forcing them into adulthood too quickly. Guatemala has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Latin America and the Caribbean and is the only country in Central America where teenage pregnancy is actually on the rise.

Through its Youth Program, WINGS seeks to prevent teenage pregnancies in Guatemala and enable girls and boys to decide about their health and futures. Our program combines youth led sexual education with free sexual and reproductive health services in remote communities.

In a recent mobile clinic in San Francisco Zapotitlán, on the country’s Pacific coast, we met 21-year-old Fabiola.

Born in San Francisco Zapotitlán, Fabiola is one of seven siblings. Her mother sold vegetables and fruit in the local market to provide for her children. While her mother was working, Fabiola was in charge of the house, taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, despite being a child herself. As in many Guatemalan families, nobody ever told Fabiola about birth control. When she was 18, Fabiola had her first child. She struggled because on top of looking out for her younger siblings, she now had her own baby to take care of. At 19, Fabiola had her second child. Today, Fabiola is 21 years old and has three children. Raising her three children has not been easy: “Being a mother is a beautiful thing, but sometimes I feel like I can barely manage. I can’t afford to provide my children with everything I’d like to give them, and when they get sick, I can’t sleep because I’m worried about their well-being”.

Days before the mobile clinic, our Field Supervisor Mylin visited women in San Francisco Zapotitlán to talk about their family planning options and encourage them to attend our mobile clinic. Although Fabiola showed up, she was very scared about using birth control. In San Francisco as in many Guatemalan communities, birth control is highly stigmatized. While she was afraid that her community would judge her, Fabiola knew that she could not afford to have more children. After discussing which contraceptive options we could offer her, Fabiola chose the subdermal hormonal implant, which provides up to 5 years of protection. Fabiola said she is grateful to WINGS because now she does not have to worry about becoming pregnant again and she is ready to dedicate all her time to raising her three boys. “WINGS is one of the few organizations that has reached out to women in my community. Many of us do not have enough money to go to a big hospital and pay for expensive services. Once I told the nurses I did not have enough money for the implant, they gave it to me for free!”

Young mothers at WINGS’ clinic

During the mobile clinic, we also met Berta, a 19-year-old girl who carried her 10-month-old baby in her arms. Berta too had never learned about birth control – not even in school where teachers are legally required to provide sexual education. When Berta was 5 years old, her mother passed away. She was raised by her aunts and her father. Her family is very religious, and she was not allowed to ask any questions related to sexuality. She was very surprised when she got pregnant, as was all her family. A friend of her late mother told Berta about the mobile clinic, so Berta came in to get a subdermal hormonal implant. Berta may want to have one other child in the future, but she is happy that she now gets to choose when she is ready for that.

Berta, 19, with her 10-month-old son

When asked whether she was excited about Mother’s Day, Berta’s face lit up and a huge smile spread across her face. “Yes! You know, once my own mother died, I lost all hope of ever being able to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ again. But now, for the first time in my life, people will be saying that to me. Even though I didn’t plan to be a mother this early, I love my son and I want to be the best mother in the world for him.”

18-year-old mother Isabela breastfeeds her 1-year-old son Andy at one of WINGS’ mobile clinics

This Mother’s Day, you can support women like Fabiola and Berta by donating to WINGS.Give a meaningful gift to a special mom today and save lives!

In Guatemala, cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths among Guatemalan women. While the disease is preventable and highly treatable if detected early, in countries like Guatemala where healthcare is largely inaccessible, it’s a grim story.

Inadequate health centers, lack of knowledge, and geographic barriers make it difficult for women to get screened for cervical cancer in Guatemala. Ten years ago, WINGS developed its Cervical Cancer Prevention Program to overcome these challenges by providing visual inspection with acetic acid and immediate cryotherapy treatment for pre-cancerous cells. We continue to offer these life-saving services in stationary clinics in Sololá, Cobán and Antigua, and through our mobile clinics, which travel to the most remote areas of the country to reach underserved women. We have provided lifesaving services to improve the lives of thousands of women in Guatemala,even within our own team!

41 year old WINGS’ Nurse Rosy was born in a rural community in San Cristobal, located in northern Guatemala. Rosy travels every month with our mobile team to provide family planning information and contraceptives to the most remote areas of the country.

Like many of the girls and women we serve, Rosy has faced many challenges in her life. When she was only 15 years old, her family forced her to marry a man who turned out to be abusive. Sadly, in Guatemala it is very common for young girls to be married off without their consent. Rosy suffered through her marriage because, similar to many women in her situation, she didn’t have a say in any decisions. Although Rosy was finally able to separate from her husband, the difficulties persisted. As a single mother, Rosy had to figure out how to make ends meet so she could feed her four children and send them to school. Luckily, her former father-in-law was very supportive and encouraged her to go back to school.

Rosy and her family had never received any information about reproductive health and prior to resuming her studies, she knew very little about her own health in general. As a child, she lost her mom and aunt to cervical cancer. Neither had ever been screened and Rosy was terrified that the she would face the same health burden.

However, as an Assistant Nurse providing these important services throughout Northern Guatemala, Rosy decided to undergo a screening with our team. Unfortunately, our staff discovered abnormal cell growth which could lead to cancer, but our team treated Rosy immediately.

As Rosy shared with our team that day, “I am truly grateful to WINGS for supporting me and allowing me to keep being a mother to my children. I now have my nursing diploma and I am so proud to be able to help people who need it. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with WINGS; I love every part of my job. I give educational talks to different communities in my native Mayan language; I provide different birth control methods; and I screen women to help prevent cervical cancer. This work is so important and I hope that I can keep doing it forever.”

Like Rosy’s aunt and mother, there are thousands of women in Guatemala who do not know about the causes of cervical cancer and how to prevent it. WINGS has worked endlessly to change this and provide information and reproductive health services to Guatemalan women in need. In 2015, we surpassed ourcervical cancer screening projection by 141%, ensuring that 3,062 women were able to undergo preventive screenings. And in the first three months of 2016 alone, we have already provided 496 cervical cancer screenings. Moving forward, we will continue providing these imperative services, thanks to your unwavering support.

To celebrate the upcoming International Women’s Day, we are launching a special new series: Fifteen Stories for the 15th Anniversary! Make sure you follow our blog to keep up to date.

Meet Elma

Elma grew up in Chiqueleu, a rural village in the highlands of Guatemala. Having grown up in a remote location with scarce access to education or health services, Elma never learned about contraceptive methods or reproductive health.

She became pregnant at a young age. It came to Elma as a big surprise, mainly because she didn’t understand how one becomes pregnant. She shared that in her community no one ever talks about sex or family planning. Even though 69% of the population in Guatemala is less than 30 years old, sexual education still hasn’t reached most public schools, and HIV prevention programs have been focused on sexual abstinence and delaying first sexual intercourse.

When Elma told her boyfriend that she was pregnant, he said that the baby wasn’t his, and disappeared from her life, never to be seen or heard from again. Elma was devastated. Sadly, this is a common occurrence in patriarchal countries where gender roles are still very traditional. Guatemala is one of the most gender unequal countries in the world. Men are not typically held accountable and many people believe that solely women are responsible for their pregnancies. In Elma’s case, most of her community and family shunned her, launching her deeper into depression.

“Once I saw the results, I couldn’t stop crying, plus my boyfriend had just left me completely alone. I honestly came close to committing suicide because I could not find a solution. Luckily, I made the right decision and I’m still here.”

Elma says that 4 years ago, nobody in Chiqueleu had access to or knowledge about contraceptive methods. Now, WINGS has impacted her community tremendously by making contraceptive methods available and providing reproductive health education. Thanks to this, Elma has had the opportunity to further her education; she only has 2 more semesters left to finish nursing school! “I am going to continue seeking advice from the WINGS volunteer promoter so that I can continue to plan my life, finish my studies and move forward”.

Why are reproductive health services important for Guatemala?

Did you know that 1 in 3 indigenous women in Guatemala have no access to health and family planning services? Along with that, only 14% of indigenous girls in rural areas complete primary school. Guatemala has the highest fertility rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, it has among the highest rates of adolescent pregnancies, and one of the highest rates of unmet contraceptive need. Twenty-two percent of women give birth before the age of 18. One big issue is that once adolescent girls become mothers, they are far less likely to re- enter the education system. In fact, 40% of adolescent mothers in Central America never finish their education.

Why is education so important?

Education is positively associated with contraceptive use by increasing awareness, acceptability, and utilization of family planning services. It is critical that people learn about contraceptives so they can choose if, when, and how many children to have. It is equally as important to raise awareness and increase acceptability to sexual health so that these topics stop being a taboo in Guatemala. This will result in people not being afraid or embarrassed to seek counseling and information regarding their reproductive health. Reproductive health services are important so that all Guatemalans have the opportunity to complete their education, pursue their goals, and break the cycle of poverty in this country.

What is WINGS doing for women?

To support women’s empowerment and to break the cycle of poverty, WINGS has various different programs that have a direct, cost effective impact on education, poverty, health, and gender inequality.

Though we have stationary clinics in Antigua, Cobán and Sololá, we are aware that there are many women in need who are living in very remote areas of the country. For this reason, we also have mobile clinics that go out to those areas, to provide both short-term and long-acting reversible contraception, cervical cancer screenings, and treatment for the most commonly occurring STIs. We do cervical cancer screenings and same-day cryotherapy treatment for pre-cancerous cells that may lead to cervical cancer. We also offer affordable tubal ligations and vasectomies; the donation cost is typically Q50, roughly $6, but we cover the costs for those who cannot afford it.

We offer community-based counselling and distribution of low-cost short-term methods through our network of volunteer family planning promoters, who have an intimate linguistic and cultural knowledge of the communities they serve. They provide quality counselling, low-cost contraceptive methods and referrals to WINGS for additional services.

We also train young women and men (ages 14 to 19) as Youth Leaders who provide accurate reproductive health information and service referrals to their peers through community-based activities. We improve the quality of information and services by training staff members of women’s rights and youth organizations, public health service providers, and partner organizations.

In Elma’s words, “Here in my community, we had no contraceptive methods in the past. Women here have wanted access to these methods for a long time now. It was very hard for me to tell you my story, but I thank you so much for visiting me, for the advice you have given me, and for strengthening our families through reproductive health.”

For World Humanitarian Day 2015, WINGS is celebrating one of our dedicated team members. A true humanitarian who provides reproductive health education to thousands of youth, women, and men in some of the most underserved communities in Guatemala, and never loses her enthusiasm and motivation! We don’t know what we’d do without her and we know that countless families throughout Guatemala feel the same.

Meet Ana Lucia…

How did you start working with WINGS?

I started volunteering with WINGS in 2007 after having participated in a reproductive health workshop. I was so inspired by what I learned that I joined WINGS to teach other young people about sexual and reproductive health. I accepted a formal position as a Youth Educator in 2011 and since 2013, I have supervised our promoter network as a Family Planning Educator.

Tell us about the work of WINGS in Guatemala.

WINGS works to improve the lives of Guatemalan families through sexual and reproductive health education and services. We strive to reach the most remote and underserved areas, helping women decide on the number of children they want and giving them the tools to space pregnancies, with the goals of alleviating poverty and reducing maternal and infant mortality.

What are the biggest challenges facing Guatemala with regards to reproductive health?

Sexual health is still a taboo here: religion is barrier to accessing services and the education system does not help – reproductive health and family planning are not given enough attention within the education system.

What do you enjoy most about working for WINGS?

I love seeing a woman leave our clinics with the contraceptive method of her choice. It might seem like a small thing, but behind her ability to choose is a lot of effort. Our team provides information and education across the country, enabling women to make informed decisions about their own bodies; we raise funds so that we can buy and provide subsidized contraception; we work with municipal leaders and decision makers to organize numerous clinics in the communities and our team of nurses, educators, drivers, and volunteers provide their services to make these clinics a reality.

When I see women happily leaving our clinics , knowing that they can now take control of their lives and give their families a better future, this makes me really happy and proud of the work we’re doing.

And the most important part of your job…

Helping Guatemalan women. I love visiting communities, understanding the needs of women living there and then being able to help them to improve their lives through family planning. I think the most important part of my work is understanding that women have the right to freely decide if/how many children they want to have and then ensuring that they are able to make their own decisions about their reproductive health.

Why are the reproductive health services that WINGS provides so important in Guatemala?

They are important because women are dying. They are dying because they are having many children, they are not spacing their pregnancies, and have very limited access to health services. It is crucial that we continue to provide education and services and work towards a better Guatemala and a better life for future generations.

Do YOU have a question for Ana Lucía? Just ask in a comment, she will be very happy to respond!

To help Ana Lucía and WINGS reach more underserved women, men and youth and provide reproductive health education and services, please make sure you spread the word about our work with your friends and family.

Part III in a five part series dealing with the issue of cervical cancer in Guatemala and how WINGS is working to spread awareness and deliver much need services.

Due to the limited availability of vaccinations to prevent the human papillomavirus (HPV) in many low resource countries, the most viable method of reducing cervical cancer incidence is to adequately and efficiently screen and treat women for precancerous lesions. There are several methods of screening and treatment that significantly lower the mortality rate of cervical cancer; a few are not only easy to implement but also economically viable in low income settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided guidelines for nations regarding which methods of screening and treatment are the most compatible with the country’s economic standing and existing public health infrastructure.

Regular cervical screening for precancerous lesions allows for the detection of abnormal cells and precancerous changes of the cervix before they become difficult to treat. Common screening techniques are the Papanicolaou test (the traditional Pap smear or the newer liquid based cytology test), visual inspection with acetic acid (VIAA), and a test for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

In developed or high income countries, the majority of women undergo periodic Pap tests as part of their gynecological checkups. However, in countries like Guatemala and especially in indigenous Mayan communities, not only is it too expensive for most of the population, but it is also impractical because Pap smears require tools, medical and laboratory expertise, and follow-up systems that are sometimes not available and often too expensive. In Guatemala, women may have to wait months to return to a clinical facility or to find out about their results, which means more time, more money, and more missed opportunities. [1] more